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Sunday, June 24, 2012

Bushwhack Crack is located in the Schoolroom Area on the Gate Buttress in Little Cottonwood Canyon. The second pitch is not as enjoyable as the first and is often not climbed. The crack is a couple inches thick and great for foot and finger jamming. Occasionally it widens to allow hand jamming. This is a classic climb in Little Cottonwood Canyon and is great practice for crack climbing.

Beckey's Wall is on the Gate Buttress in Little Cottonwood Canyon. It is perhaps the most famous route in the Wasatch. It was first climbed by Fred Beckey in 1961.

The route is directly above the Gate Buttress parking lot and follows a fairly steep dihedral for the first pitch past rappel chains to the top of the crack. Be prepared to build your own anchor. We used #1.5 and #3 camalots and a #4 stopper for our anchor. The second pitch climbs up a vertical flake to a set of chains or to a tree at the bottom of an easy 5.4 dihedral. The second pitch is super exposed and super fun and is one of my personal favorites. A great route to practice leading trad on, with great protection and fun climbing!
Beckey's Wall: Blue
Sweet Jane Variation: Red
Tingeys Terror: Yellow
Looking down from the top of Beckey's Wall

Tingey's Terror is on the Gate Buttress to east of Beckey's Wall (Classic climb). In order to climb Tingey's you have to first climb either Tarzan (5.10a) or Sweet Jane Variation (5.7). We climbed the Sweet Jane Variation in 1 pitch (recommended 2 on Mountain Project). Then we climbed up 2 more pitches to the top of the "5th pitch." The most challenging section is the fifth pitch traverse on smooth granite. The only protection is a bolt half way across the face (20 ft.). According to an older friend of mine, that route used to have no protection at all on the face. We were a bit nervous with the bolt, I can't imagine traversing without it! A fun route, if you are looking to get several moderate pitches in. Each belay station has chains.

Sunday, June 10, 2012

The hike to Red Pine Lake is probably my favorite hike in the Wasatch. The trail starts at the White Pine Trailhead, a couple miles up Little Cottonwood Canyon. 3 miles to the lower lake. A fellow nature lover and I went up in our chacos, assuming the trail would be clear of snow. Unfortunately it wasn't, but we still made it.

Located just below the Storm Mountain picnic area in Big Cottonwood Canyon on an east-facing wall. Great climbing and a sport multipitch option. We climbed several of the routes. This is the place to be in the afternoon in Big Cottonwood Canyon.

Dogwood Crag is located approximately 2 miles up Big Cottonwood Canyon on the south side of the stream. This is the first of many crags we discovered in Big Cottonwood Canyon last week. Great for top roping, although usually crowded.

Friday, June 1, 2012

Perhaps is a great route on the Gate Buttress in Little Cottonwood Canyon. The Gate Buttress is a huge granite wall where a lot of granite was blown up by the LDS church for the Conference Center in downtown SLC. The slope leading up to the wall is littered with granite boulders scarred with drill marks.

The route follows an easy dihedral, then traverses a blank face (crux), and then follows a fun undercling for about 150 ft. The undercling and pitch 2 can be seen in the picture below.

This was a super fun route and good place to learn how to protect the traverse.

Lisa Falls is a waterfall that cascades down from Broads Fork Twin Peaks into Little Cottonwood Canyon. The granite buttress surrounding the waterfall is called the Lisa Falls Buttress. A couple buddies and I went up to the rock to check out some of the routes. We top-roped 5 different routes.